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Tomorrow Sucks
Journeying from the streets of old London to the decks of interplanetary spaceships, a new collection of science fiction vampire tales features short stories by Ray Bradbury, Roger Zelazny, Dean Ing, Spider Robinson, and other notable authors. Original.
274 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 18, 2021
This is a nifty little anthology of science fiction (more or less) stories about vampires. I liked the stories by Ray Bradbury, Spider Robinson, and Roger Zelazny... and Joe L. Hensley, Dean Ing, and Keith Roberts, come to think of it, though my favorite, by far, is Catherine Moore's classic Shambleau. A dandy little Halloween treat! There was a companion volume charmingly titled Tomorrow Bites.
October 23, 2025
A collection of vampire themed science fiction stories, written from the 1930’s to the 1980’s. I didn’t remember I had this book on my shelf but I’m reading my physical TBR and this book came up. It was a nice surprise with some pretty good stories. There were stories by Ray Bradbury and Roger Zelazny, two of my favorite authors from my childhood. Really there wasn’t a bad story in the bunch.
August 6, 2021
When I see science fiction vampires, I need vampires, you know, creatures that live on blood or other human essence. Two of the stories in this collection do not match that criteria at all, they are really about ghouls, another type of supernatural creature.
I also need it to be set in the future or have a science-like connection, most of the stories do that. Roger Zelazny's "The Stainless Steel Leech" met all of my expectations wonderfully. S.N. Dyer's "Born Again" was also a stand out among the group for me. Brian Stableford's "The Man Who Loved the Vampire Lady" isn't science fiction but alternative history so I'm not sure why it is in this collection but it was also a favorite of mine.
I also need it to be set in the future or have a science-like connection, most of the stories do that. Roger Zelazny's "The Stainless Steel Leech" met all of my expectations wonderfully. S.N. Dyer's "Born Again" was also a stand out among the group for me. Brian Stableford's "The Man Who Loved the Vampire Lady" isn't science fiction but alternative history so I'm not sure why it is in this collection but it was also a favorite of mine.
November 9, 2013
A classic super genre-y paperback if ever there was one, "Tomorrow Sucks" does not house any groundbreaking works of literature, nor does it contain any particularly revelatory stories. On the other hand, it doesn't contain anything that's really schlock, and while none of the stories are going to change your life, they do make for engaging and entertaining reads.
The collection brings together a range of science fiction stories that deal with vampirism. The theme is a relatively loose one, with some stories being grounded firmly in science and reason and some others relying more on genre archetypes (ray guns and robots) to be considered "science fiction" instead of fantasy or horror. As usual, the best thing to do is break it down story by story.
"Pillar of Fire" by Ray Bradbury - The opening line to "Pillar of Fire is, "He came out of the earth, hating." That's one of the best opening lines I've ever encountered. Unfortunately, the story is on the long side and gets a little tedious despite some excellent sentence structures and evocative ideas.
"And Not Quite Human" by Joe L Hensley - A tiny little ditty which riffs on fear and indecisiveness; I'm not sure if it suffers or is saved by the plot-dump explanation of everything that's happened that comes at the end.
"The Man Who Loved The Vampire Lady" by Brian Sableford - I can't really figure out why I liked this story as much as I did, as it combines a few particularly useless stereotypes, including one of my least favorites - the covert revolutionary who betrays his eeeeevil superiors. That said, this is the first really "sciencey" story in the collection, which is a little ironic since it takes place hundreds of years ago in an alternate version of history. Worth the time to read.
"Born Again" by SN Dyer - A story which showed a ton of promise, only to devolve into useless "commentary on human nature" near the end. Throughout the majority of this story, vampirism is approached in a scientific way - then for the last act we see all the main characters fall prey to brazen character assassination to make them fit into the author's "message." Disappointing.
"Kaeti's Nights" by Keith Roberts - In kind of an odd way this story reminded me of Jhumpa Lahiri, in that it's a short story that encompasses a narrative of a relatively long period of time. Despite breaking a ton of narrative rules this story was really well done. It manages to tell the "vampires are the good guys" story in a light that felt extremely natural. Recommended.
"Pyotr's Story" by Spider Robinson - A good read; strange mostly in that it's not actually Pyotr's story (although it is about him in many ways, he isn't the primary focus throughout much of it). Very rarely have I felt negatively toward a story or book because the title was poorly chosen, but this'd have to be an instance falling under that category. Worth the read, just ignore the title.
"Vanishing Breed" by Leslie Roy Carter - Space vampires tried to mingle with humans but failed and are migrating in their millennium old space ship but the main character's staying behind because he feels more human than vampire the end. Read all that in one breath and you've saved yourself the trouble of reading "Vanishing Breed," which isn't a completely terrible story, but suffers from pacing issues, believability issues, and "what the fuck why would you stop the story just as you're getting to the part that matters most to your main character!" issues. You may or may not feel like you wasted your time after reading this one.
"Fleas" by Dean Ing - Another short, quick read; a supernatural take on the idea that there's a always a bigger fish. Somehow doesn't feel terribly original despite the fact that I can't summon up any one particular story that was about this same topic. Another one that you might feel wastes your time, but probably not.
"Leechcraft" by Susan Petrey - Despite a few instances where I felt like laughing at the absurdity of what I was reading - one character wants to compliment another on "the smell of her wolvish cunt" at one point, I'm not even joking - this on is probably the best story in the collection, all the more strange because it's the closest thing to a straight-up love story in the whole thing, and it's not exactly difficult to figure out what's going to happen next. Characterization in this one is strong and nuanced and worth the time to read.
"Shambleau" by CL Moore - Definitely the most "horror" themed story in the collection, "Shambleau" also stretches the theme of the collection - scifi vampire stories - as it is about a futuristic Medusa (who nonetheless feeds on "life force"). I'm not a huge horror-story fan and honestly there wasn't anything about "Shambleau" that thrilled me; it just doesn't reach the sublime level you get from good horror writing.
"The Stainless Steel Leech" by Roger Zelazny - A wonderful idea ("robots have inherited the Earth and there's even a robot vampire!") that manages to explain the unlikely confluence of events needed to create such a creature (he had his power source removed due to being defective but found that he could survive by draining power from other robots) in a way that didn't feel forced. Unfortunately, the story never goes anywhere, and ends on something of an anticlimax. There's so much potential here that I could cry, but it never achieves anything.
So in review - "The Man Who Loved the Vampire Lady," "Kaeti's Nights," "Pyotr's Story," and "Leechcraft" are all pretty good and well worth your time, if you're into science fiction and/or vampires. The others are a hit or miss, but none of them are completely pointless.
The collection brings together a range of science fiction stories that deal with vampirism. The theme is a relatively loose one, with some stories being grounded firmly in science and reason and some others relying more on genre archetypes (ray guns and robots) to be considered "science fiction" instead of fantasy or horror. As usual, the best thing to do is break it down story by story.
"Pillar of Fire" by Ray Bradbury - The opening line to "Pillar of Fire is, "He came out of the earth, hating." That's one of the best opening lines I've ever encountered. Unfortunately, the story is on the long side and gets a little tedious despite some excellent sentence structures and evocative ideas.
"And Not Quite Human" by Joe L Hensley - A tiny little ditty which riffs on fear and indecisiveness; I'm not sure if it suffers or is saved by the plot-dump explanation of everything that's happened that comes at the end.
"The Man Who Loved The Vampire Lady" by Brian Sableford - I can't really figure out why I liked this story as much as I did, as it combines a few particularly useless stereotypes, including one of my least favorites - the covert revolutionary who betrays his eeeeevil superiors. That said, this is the first really "sciencey" story in the collection, which is a little ironic since it takes place hundreds of years ago in an alternate version of history. Worth the time to read.
"Born Again" by SN Dyer - A story which showed a ton of promise, only to devolve into useless "commentary on human nature" near the end. Throughout the majority of this story, vampirism is approached in a scientific way - then for the last act we see all the main characters fall prey to brazen character assassination to make them fit into the author's "message." Disappointing.
"Kaeti's Nights" by Keith Roberts - In kind of an odd way this story reminded me of Jhumpa Lahiri, in that it's a short story that encompasses a narrative of a relatively long period of time. Despite breaking a ton of narrative rules this story was really well done. It manages to tell the "vampires are the good guys" story in a light that felt extremely natural. Recommended.
"Pyotr's Story" by Spider Robinson - A good read; strange mostly in that it's not actually Pyotr's story (although it is about him in many ways, he isn't the primary focus throughout much of it). Very rarely have I felt negatively toward a story or book because the title was poorly chosen, but this'd have to be an instance falling under that category. Worth the read, just ignore the title.
"Vanishing Breed" by Leslie Roy Carter - Space vampires tried to mingle with humans but failed and are migrating in their millennium old space ship but the main character's staying behind because he feels more human than vampire the end. Read all that in one breath and you've saved yourself the trouble of reading "Vanishing Breed," which isn't a completely terrible story, but suffers from pacing issues, believability issues, and "what the fuck why would you stop the story just as you're getting to the part that matters most to your main character!" issues. You may or may not feel like you wasted your time after reading this one.
"Fleas" by Dean Ing - Another short, quick read; a supernatural take on the idea that there's a always a bigger fish. Somehow doesn't feel terribly original despite the fact that I can't summon up any one particular story that was about this same topic. Another one that you might feel wastes your time, but probably not.
"Leechcraft" by Susan Petrey - Despite a few instances where I felt like laughing at the absurdity of what I was reading - one character wants to compliment another on "the smell of her wolvish cunt" at one point, I'm not even joking - this on is probably the best story in the collection, all the more strange because it's the closest thing to a straight-up love story in the whole thing, and it's not exactly difficult to figure out what's going to happen next. Characterization in this one is strong and nuanced and worth the time to read.
"Shambleau" by CL Moore - Definitely the most "horror" themed story in the collection, "Shambleau" also stretches the theme of the collection - scifi vampire stories - as it is about a futuristic Medusa (who nonetheless feeds on "life force"). I'm not a huge horror-story fan and honestly there wasn't anything about "Shambleau" that thrilled me; it just doesn't reach the sublime level you get from good horror writing.
"The Stainless Steel Leech" by Roger Zelazny - A wonderful idea ("robots have inherited the Earth and there's even a robot vampire!") that manages to explain the unlikely confluence of events needed to create such a creature (he had his power source removed due to being defective but found that he could survive by draining power from other robots) in a way that didn't feel forced. Unfortunately, the story never goes anywhere, and ends on something of an anticlimax. There's so much potential here that I could cry, but it never achieves anything.
So in review - "The Man Who Loved the Vampire Lady," "Kaeti's Nights," "Pyotr's Story," and "Leechcraft" are all pretty good and well worth your time, if you're into science fiction and/or vampires. The others are a hit or miss, but none of them are completely pointless.
August 27, 2017
Well, I'm way more on board with sci-fi vampires than fantasy vampires. But I feel like I already knew that. Solid collection, though I wouldn't call any individual story phenomenal. I liked "Pillar of Fire" and "Leechcraft" the best.
March 5, 2012
This was a nice little ensemble of SF Vampire short stories from an array of authors giving us a little nibble from across the spectrum of SF subgenres. The closest to the more popular and classic horror vampire stories would be Pillar of Fire from the timeless Ray Bradbury, Kaeti's Nights by Keith Roberts, and Fleas by Dean Ing.
Want to mix in Vampires and Aliens? Try And Not Quite Human by Joe Hensley. Or maybe a twist around on I Am Legend involving the vampires being aliens? There is Vanishing Breed by Leslie Roy Carter.
Like the classic SF Adventure that's a little too much like fantasy a la Edgar Rice Burroughs? Got you covered! With Shambleau by C. L. Moore. And if you are more of the Isaac Asimov/robots SF geek then there is The Stainless Steel Leech by Roger Zelazny... which made me think too much of Futurama.
The more clinical type SF is taken on by Born Again by S.N. Dyer (and personally one of my favs of the collection), and also Leechcraft by Susan Petrey, which I didn't care for as much because it was a little more romance novel-ish for my taste.
And then the last, but certainly quite fabulous in a category of its own, is Pyotr's Story by Spider Robinson. More of an homage to rock stars and the local town bar, and I am not sure HOW this is really SF, but it grew on me and became a rare gem of a find.
Want to mix in Vampires and Aliens? Try And Not Quite Human by Joe Hensley. Or maybe a twist around on I Am Legend involving the vampires being aliens? There is Vanishing Breed by Leslie Roy Carter.
Like the classic SF Adventure that's a little too much like fantasy a la Edgar Rice Burroughs? Got you covered! With Shambleau by C. L. Moore. And if you are more of the Isaac Asimov/robots SF geek then there is The Stainless Steel Leech by Roger Zelazny... which made me think too much of Futurama.
The more clinical type SF is taken on by Born Again by S.N. Dyer (and personally one of my favs of the collection), and also Leechcraft by Susan Petrey, which I didn't care for as much because it was a little more romance novel-ish for my taste.
And then the last, but certainly quite fabulous in a category of its own, is Pyotr's Story by Spider Robinson. More of an homage to rock stars and the local town bar, and I am not sure HOW this is really SF, but it grew on me and became a rare gem of a find.
March 12, 2016
This was a nice little ensemble of SF Vampire short stories from an array of authors giving us a little nibble from across the spectrum of SF subgenres. The closest to the more popular and classic horror vampire stories would be Pillar of Fire from the timeless Ray Bradbury, Kaeti's Nights by Keith Roberts, and Fleas by Dean Ing.
Want to mix in Vampires and Aliens? Try And Not Quite Human by Joe Hensley. Or maybe a twist around on I Am Legend involving the vampires being aliens? There is Vanishing Breed by Leslie Roy Carter.
Like the classic SF Adventure that's a little too much like fantasy a la Edgar Rice Burroughs? Got you covered! With Shambleau by C. L. Moore. And if you are more of the Isaac Asimov/robots SF geek then there is The Stainless Steel Leech by Roger Zelazny... which made me think too much of Futurama.
The more clinical type SF is taken on by Born Again by S.N. Dyer (and personally one of my favs of the collection), and also Leechcraft by Susan Petrey, which I didn't care for as much because it was a little more romance novel-ish for my taste.
And then the last, but certainly quite fabulous in a category of its own, is Pyotr's Story by Spider Robinson. More of an homage to rock stars and the local town bar, and I am not sure HOW this is really SF, but it grew on me and became a rare gem of a find.
Want to mix in Vampires and Aliens? Try And Not Quite Human by Joe Hensley. Or maybe a twist around on I Am Legend involving the vampires being aliens? There is Vanishing Breed by Leslie Roy Carter.
Like the classic SF Adventure that's a little too much like fantasy a la Edgar Rice Burroughs? Got you covered! With Shambleau by C. L. Moore. And if you are more of the Isaac Asimov/robots SF geek then there is The Stainless Steel Leech by Roger Zelazny... which made me think too much of Futurama.
The more clinical type SF is taken on by Born Again by S.N. Dyer (and personally one of my favs of the collection), and also Leechcraft by Susan Petrey, which I didn't care for as much because it was a little more romance novel-ish for my taste.
And then the last, but certainly quite fabulous in a category of its own, is Pyotr's Story by Spider Robinson. More of an homage to rock stars and the local town bar, and I am not sure HOW this is really SF, but it grew on me and became a rare gem of a find.
January 5, 2013
This combined two of my favorite things: vampires and science fiction! There was such variety in the plots and writing styles. I enjoyed The Man Who Loved the Vampire Lady that proposed the idea that vampires cannot invent. I was excited to learn that the story was developed into a novel. I look forward to reading it. Some of the other enjoyable stories were Vanishing Breed and Leechcraft. The first dealt with vampires being aliens and creating vampire-human hybrids. It was definitely an angle I had never encountered. The second involved time travel and romance. My favorite was Born Again that attributed vampirism to a bacterial infection activated only after death. It was partially written as a scientific paper which I thought was humorous. This short story collection is definitely becoming part of mine.
October 26, 2011
This is a random collection of science-fiction vampire stories that I scored for $2 at B&N. I wasn't expecting much of it, but there were some real gems. The idea is that these are futuristic vampires -- you get stories that are hidden classics from sci-fi. I only found two of them to be weak, and that's mostly because I don't care for time travel (in books).
August 3, 2012
This was a collection of short stories about Vampires written by authors (Ray Bradbury for one) decades ago. Some stories were really good and I wanted to read more, others not so much. I skipped over one story entirely because it was written in old English style. I hate reading books like that. But it was interesting to read different story lines dealing with Vampires.
June 16, 2013
Mixed bag of vampire stories older and newer - for values of "newer" that reflect the publication date of 1994, which is now nearly 20 years ago. This is one of the many volumes of Steve's vast vampire collection that I saved to read, and now I've done it, so it can get given away. Only a couple hundred more to go from this batch!
January 22, 2015
A nice little anthology about scientific vampires. Out of the 11 stories, I really liked 4. Pilar of Fire by Ray Bradbury, The Man Who Loved the Vampire Lady by Brian Stableford, Pyotr's Story by Spider Robinson, and Leechcraft by Susan Petrey. Might be worth a read, if you're really into vampires. My favorite was Leechcraft.
December 6, 2014
A great collection of SF vampire stories, with no sparkling vampires in sight! Different takes on the form and manner of the legend, all thought-provoking in their own way. I highly recommend this book for the serious vampire fan.
March 17, 2012
Honestly, there were only two, possibly three stories in this anthology that I enjoyed. Even those weren't enjoyable enough to make the read worth it.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews